


Short Hair

by Magical_Bot



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Gen, Hunk & Pidge | Katie Holt Friendship, Lance & Pidge | Katie Holt Friendship, Male Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pidge | Katie Holt-centric, Pidge's family is mentionned multiple times, Pidge's pronouns change a lot in this fic, Shiro is also mentionned, also there's a lot of references to hair
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-28
Updated: 2018-10-18
Packaged: 2019-07-18 02:13:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,456
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16108652
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Magical_Bot/pseuds/Magical_Bot
Summary: Katie never really wanted short hair to begin with. But as Katie became Pidge, she found that it had become an integral part of her identity.





	1. No Turning Back

Katie Holt would never have imagined cutting off her hair before today.

She wasn’t one to do much with her long, thick hair; she usually liked to let it loose, keep it tied into a ponytail or braided out of the way. However, despite her lack of hairstyling abilities, she had still taken pride in the care she had given to it over the years. It was a complex task that Katie had perfected her entire life. In turn, it remained a beautiful and healthy, shiny shade of brown, a feat that few of the people around her could brag about. The styling went unnoticed, but she was often complimented on how beautiful her long hair was.

Katie never thought that she would actually have to cut her hair short someday. But after her father and brother’s disappearance during the Kerberos mission, she felt she had no choice. 

The Galaxy Garrison had pronounced all of the Kerberos' crewmembers dead to the media, but she refused to believe any of the official reports. She had even hacked into the academy's computer system in a desperate attempt to find the truth, for which she had obviously been found and arrested in no time. Katie was promptly banned from the Galaxy Garrison for her criminal actions, all while she kicked screamed at the security guards escorting her out that she would never give up on her family. The girl was convinced that the authorities were attempting to cover up the case due to the lack of evidence proving that the crew could still be living, even a year after they had vanished into space.

Honestly, Katie considered herself lucky that the only consequence she had had was to be forbidden from ever returning. However, to have a chance to continue her search, there was no doubt in her mind that she would have to find a way get into the Galaxy Garrison anyway. To do so, she would have to assume a new identity to stay under the radar, which also meant that she had to let go of some of her most prominent features, including both her current gender identity and her signature hairstyle. Katie Holt decided that she would shape herself into someone else: Pidge Gunderson.

“First day of school,” she told herself in front of the bathroom's mirror. She had dreaded this day, replaying the events multiple times in her head before finally committing to it. There was no turning back now.

The girl held a pair of scissors that vaguely looked like they could be used to cut hair and brought it to her locks, still unsure of if she really wanted to chop it all away. She convinced herself that Pidge was no hairstylist; he wouldn’t know how to cut his hair himself. She held the scissors closer, her hand shaking hesitantly. Did she really want to go as far as cut away her hair, part of her pride? A personal treasure she had cared for immensely for as long as she could remember?

Katie Holt didn’t want to. But Pidge Gunderson had to.

The scissors cut without hesitation this time, revealing Katie’s new identity underneath with each snip. It was amateur and uneven, but Pidge didn’t care. He wasn’t one to take pride in his hair; Katie was. A pair of glasses his brother had given him as a memento completed his new look.

His haircut finished, Pidge carefully gathered as many hair locks from the floor as he could. He wanted to give them to charity before continuing the search for his family, finding comfort in the fact that they would at least be useful to someone else. That way, Katie's hard work wouldn't go to waste.

He grieved the loss of his past identity a few more minutes before heading for his first day at the Galaxy Garrison, leaving as much of Katie as he could behind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This fic has been sitting on my computer for a while and I figured that I should give it a go and finish it! I'm aiming for a series of very short chapters. 
> 
> The reason why it's about hair is that I could relate a lot to Pidge when she had no option but to cut her own. I went through a similar struggle a few years ago. I love my short hairstyle now but I remember the transition from having it super long to super short being a bit rough, so I thought it would be interesting to write about!
> 
> Next time, I will try tackling how different having short hair is, and perhaps we'll see some more characters as well while we're at it. :)
> 
> Side Note: This fic is currently not beta-read! I'm doing my best by re-reading dozens of times and editing but if you happen to be interested in beta-reading just let me know. English is my second language and I wish to continue to improve my writing skills!


	2. Friendship & Fruit Salad

Pidge missed his long hair, but he would be lying if he said that having it short wasn’t practical. He didn’t need to brush it every single day or wash it with a special shampoo for it to look decent, and most of all, it didn’t take the whole day to dry after a shower, which was a blessing considering all the training he went through every day at the Galaxy Garrison.

Sometimes, Pidge caught himself playing with his hair as if he was constantly trying to comb it with his hands. It was an old habit of Katie that was also somewhat comforting. This tendency had mostly died over time, however, and after a few weeks, Katie was no more than a secret buried deep within.

The Galaxy Garrison’s education system made it so that all the students were paired in groups of three, and Pidge had the chance to team up with perhaps two of the most ill-fitted students for the space exploration program: Lance, who was frankly one of the worst pilots he had ever met, and Hunk, an engineer in the making who couldn’t manage to fly without throwing up, even during practical exercises.

Pidge’s teammates weren’t bad per se; if anything, they were so oblivious that it facilitated his infiltration into the Garrison. None of them had ever doubted that he was anything but a young fourteen-year-old boy genius who had managed to get in only because of his good grades. They also were very good friends; Hunk was an amazing listener and cook, and Lance was entertaining to be with when he wasn’t being an idiot. It gave Pidge the feeling that he was part of a small group, a somewhat found family, and he was thankful for that. The fact that he searched obsessively for his real family in his free time didn’t mean that he wanted to remain a loner.

However, being around people also meant that he was sometimes getting unwarranted advice. Lance, for instance, loved to take care of himself; he often went out of his way to try out new beauty routines or products, such as various face masks and moisturizers. Pidge, on the other hand, didn’t really care, which is why he often got a lot of unwanted criticism and tips from the Cuban boy. Brush your hair this way, cut the splits ends, wash your face some more, get rid of your dark circles, try this miraculous thing... It was sometimes unnerving because Lance knew that Pidge absolutely did not bother with following any of his advice. Katie would probably have paid attention to her appearance to some degree, but right now, it was on the bottom of Pidge’s priority list. He preferred continuing to search for his missing family and had no time to waste on such superficialities.

On most days, his hair looked like a bird’s nest, tangled and full of knots and split ends, but he didn’t really care. Two or three brushes would make it look acceptable and that’s all he really needed and had the time for. If he was lucky, his skin would look clear and his teammates would leave him alone; however, the more their friendship had progressed, the more concern they expressed to him.

“Geez Pidge, have you slept at all yesterday? You look like a mess,” Lance remarked one morning during breakfast hours. “Like, you look worse than usual. I’m worried,” he said between two bites of toast.

“Shut up Lance.” Pidge retorted, sipping a third cup of black coffee. His dark circles and messy morning hair were a dead giveaway of the last few all-nighters he had spent researching.

“Yeah man, you need to take care of yourself more. You can't function on coffee only! Your body needs to rest,” Hunk agreed. “And you need to eat some real food. Here, take some of mine,” he finished, sharing some of his fruit salad.

“Thanks Hunk, I’ll consider it.” Pidge smiled slightly, still half-asleep. He knew that the remarks came from a good place, but he just wasn’t in the mood for a lecture on beauty sleep. At least Hunk was less invasive about it. The fruits would be a great mood-booster, too.

“You know, maybe you should try-”

“Not today Lance.” Pidge shut the conversation immediately, not wanting to receive any more advice. Couldn’t he enjoy even his coffee in peace anymore?

Taking the hint, Lance turned his attention to Hunk, wanting to find some conversation to fill in the silence. The subject quickly diverted to Lance chatting about girls with Hunk listening, as it was often the case when the boy had nothing special to talk about.

Pidge quietly sipped on his coffee, saving the sweet fruits for last.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How did this fic go from talking about short hair to having some fruit salad? ｢(ﾟﾍﾟ)
> 
> Next time, we run up to the roof for some strange radio-chatter!


	3. One Word: Voltron

Pidge ran to the roof of the Galaxy Carrison every night, carrying his equipment to scan for possible signals or messages from his family. He hadn’t found anything with it at first, but constant tinkering on his machines had eventually given him a word coming from what he assumed was alien radio chatter: “Voltron”.

“What’s a Voltron?”, Pidge wondered out loud, attempting to pass his hand into his hair. He hadn’t done this in a while and it didn’t comb nearly as smoothly as it would have in Katie’s, but it didn’t matter. He was getting closer to their goal, and Katie would have taken any clue over nothing. They would find their family together.

Every night following the first time he had picked up alien radio chatter, the boy ran to the roof with more fervor than before, knowing that he was getting closer to something. The signals would repeat “Voltron” over and over, but he had no idea what it was. Perhaps a weapon of war? A codename? Regardless, he was convinced that it could have something to do with the disappearance of Matt and Samuel Holt. He knew that this idea was far-fetched, but at this point, he preferred having found something worth investigating over nothing.

One night, Lance and Hunk caught up to him. Lance had wanted to get out of the Garrison for some partying, followed by a hesitant Hunk, but they had both spotted Pidge fleeing his room and had followed him to the roof, curiosity taking over the need for adventure and meeting cute girls, as Lance would put it. Actually, Lance hadn’t said that last part out loud, but that’s what Pidge assumed his teammate would think about.

“What are you doing up here, Pidgeon?” Lance whispered into his ears, startling his teammate. “You should really think of brushing this nest out, by the way. I can see the knots a hundred meters away.”

“I was just hum…”  Pidge muttered, searching for a good excuse and ignoring Lance’s remark.  “I was looking at the stars!” Yes, that would have to do. Lance would buy it. Right?

“Where did you get all that stuff? It doesn’t look like Garrison tech…”

“I built it,” Pidge said pridefully. He clearly wasn’t a good liar, but he could talk about his inventions all night long if that meant that his team would leave him alone.

“You built all of that?” Hunk asked in wonder. He wanted to become an engineer himself, and he thought he was quite capable, but this level of tech seemed out of his reach still.

“Yes! With this thing, I can scan all the way across the Solar System.”

“Is that so? All the way to Kerberos?” Lance interjected, making Pidge glare at him. “What, you go ballistic every time the teacher brings it up!”, the tallest cadet continued, “We’re a team, so there shouldn’t be any secrets. What are you really doing, Pidge?”

Pidge sighed, annoyed by Lance's questioning. “Okay, fine! I don’t believe that the pilots from the Kerberos mission are dead like the Garrison stated, so I was scanning the system and picked up some alien radio chatter.” He didn’t really want to bring up his personal problems, but Lance had been curious for a while already and he was tired of being asked what his response to the Kerberos mission was about.

“Wait, aliens? As in alien ALIENS?” Hunk shivered. That is definitely not what he had signed up for tonight.

“Okay, so you’re insane,” Lance dryly replied, “Got it. And?”

“I’m serious!” Pidge insisted. “I can’t understand half of what they’re saying but they’re constantly repeating a single word: Voltron.”

“What’s a Voltron?” Both his teammates asked this time, somewhat curious about his findings despite the improbability of it all.

“I don’t know. I’m assuming it’s a weapon,” Pidge explained, “ And tonight, the chatter has been crazier than ever before.”

The cadets’ alien argument was cut short when a distressing alarm suddenly sound, the intercom systems urging the students to stay inside the Garrison. It was a complete lockdown. “This is not a drill”, the security repeated, “this is not a drill. An unidentified object has been observed. All students are required to follow the lockdown procedures and stay in their designed room.”

The unidentified object in question was, in fact, what seemed to be a spaceship that had just crashed right next to the Garrison.

“We gotta see that ship!!” Pidge exclaimed, grabbing his equipment and stuffing his bag as fast as he could manage. The boy ran towards the crashing site, followed by an excited Lance and a scared, but loyal Hunk.

Their curiosity soon took them to a nearby cliff, where they could share a pair of spectacles and observe the situation. After Lance spotted some beautiful girl in the distance, warranting a shove from Pidge who, on his side, had managed to hack into the security cameras, the team quickly recognized one of their childhood heroes coming out of the alien spacecraft: Takashi Shirogane. The same Takashi Shirogane who had been missing from the Keroberos mission along with Pidge’s family.

Not two minutes later, explosions resounded in the distance, distracting the Garrison’s security team into a second investigation. Lance immediately recognized the perpetrator as Keith, his one-sided piloting rival. He was certain the Asian boy with the mullet was here to steal all the glory.

“Oh, I am not letting this guy get to Shiro before I do!” Lance said, throwing the spectacles away. “That guy always tries to one-up me!”

Lance ran faster than he probably ever has to accomplish his heroic deed, screaming about Keith’s stupid mullet and rivalry. Hunk, more out of worry for his trouble-making best friend than anything else, did his best to follow him closely behind. Pidge, also wanting to be part of the action, ran after them even faster to compensate for his smaller stature, his short hair wildly whipping out of the way.

He was glad that he didn't have Katie’s long hair in this instance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I tried not to write too much recap, adjusting some dialog along the way to make it a bit more interesting. We all know the canon already, there is no need to repeat everything. :p
> 
> Next time, there will probably be a time skip into space! I wonder how many more hair references I can add.


End file.
